I lived overseas for 28 years all over the world, and I got in the habit of making a pilgrimage once a year to see family in the US, and on the same trip I packed up all things related to the yacht and carried them myself to their destination. I never had any major problems. It's inconvenient at times, and I had to wait for some stuff. But since I was cruising, it usually did not matter that much because I wasn't on a strict schedule.

Vincent, why did you bother? I already know this. My question is why? Why, when a shipper checks to see if I will receive the package they are assured I will? Why is Purolator the only courier -- THE ONLY COURIER -- who will not deliver to my address? Why am I then not compensated for the cost of my time and travel? All you've done is confirm my understanding of your company.

I know, it's not your fault. I understand you have no power to do anything. I also understand the real reason is about maximizing profits. But please, don't go onto public forums like CF and try and mitigate or manage negative opinion. It does not help.

Vincent, why did you bother? I already know this. My question is why? Why, when a shipper checks to see if I will receive the package they are assured I will? Why is Purolator the only courier -- THE ONLY COURIER -- who will not deliver to my address? Why am I then not compensated for the cost of my time and travel? All you've done is confirm my understanding of your company.

I know, it's not your fault. I understand you have no power to do anything. I also understand the real reason is about maximizing profits. But please, don't go onto public forums like CF and try and mitigate or manage negative opinion. It does not help.

As far as I can tell (and in my experience) you cannot avoid paying Canadian tax beyond these exemptions, no matter how the product is shipped. What you can do, by picking the thing up yourself and bringing it across the border, is avoid paying exorbitant "brokerage fees" charged by private courier companies. UPS seems to charge the most. USPS seems to charge the least.

With USPS I had duties and taxes waived. The Canada Post guy handed it to me at the door and just said "enjoy". Granted this is usually for stuff under $50. I often think it's a handshake agreement between the two countries postal unions to compete against the couriers.

With USPS I had duties and taxes waived. The Canada Post guy handed it to me at the door and just said "enjoy". Granted this is usually for stuff under $50. I often think it's a handshake agreement between the two countries postal unions to compete against the couriers.

I looked up the polcy and they have a start up fee. Think it said $20 but could be higher.. Sometimes I get called to pay but on lower cost items never. That is why the "brokerage" fee is such a croc!

I've noticed that if I'm home at the time of the delivery, they kind of say "aw feck it". But if I'm not there and it goes to a depot or retail post outlet and I have to pick it up, everything is by the book. If it's not scanned at my end, it just dissapears in the system I guess. I can see a postal guy not wanting to get into collecting small amounts of cash at the door, carrying change etc...probably never get anything done. If it's a larger ticket item, I'm sure it would be different.

Vincent, why did you bother? I already know this. My question is why? Why, when a shipper checks to see if I will receive the package they are assured I will? Why is Purolator the only courier -- THE ONLY COURIER -- who will not deliver to my address? Why am I then not compensated for the cost of my time and travel? All you've done is confirm my understanding of your company.

I know, it's not your fault. I understand you have no power to do anything. I also understand the real reason is about maximizing profits. But please, don't go onto public forums like CF and try and mitigate or manage negative opinion. It does not help.

Well there you go, I guess the analogy of stamping out fires doesn't really hold up. It looks more like he's restarting old fires now. roflmao

At the sender's end, there is definitely a convenience to use a courier. I may be wrong, but I don't think USPS does pick ups, you have to bring our package to them for delivery. Smaller outfits seem to make this part of their daily routine. Larger ones are reluctant to allocate the funds to dedicate a truck/person/manager to do this. Someone with more ambition than I should send West Marine an e-mail and see what they think.

After wasting more of my time tracking down a past shipment number, after wasting more of my time ...

...

Vincent, why did you bother? I already know this.

...

I know, it's not your fault. I understand you have no power to do anything. I also understand the real reason is about maximizing profits. But please, don't go onto public forums like CF and try and mitigate or manage negative opinion. It does not help.

I beg to disagree, it wasn't necessarily a waste of time for Vincent to engage with you:

- any sincere feedback from users is gold to most companies
- it's created awareness of the issue. At some point the company may decide there's enough ill-will generated from this situation that they will try to mitigate... for example by expanding their service or engaging a local carrier to bridge the last gap when needed
- having been on both sides of this sort of issue, I am more attracted to a company that visibly tackles problems head-on. Nothing infuriates me more than being ignored or blown off.
- (Speaking hypothetically) - knowing that there's a Vincent who will answer inquiries directly, I would be more inclined to use his employer in future. Now if I do, and things go pear-shaped, and Vincent turns out to be powerless or unresponsive, that would turn 180...

Anyway, I'd much rather converse with a company than be ignored. The world needs more Vincents.

Anyway, I'd much rather converse with a company than be ignored. The world needs more Vincents.

I'd agree with you if this was an actual effort to address my concerns. It was not. It was yet another cynical effort to appear sincere, to appear like Purolator is listening, to appear to be concerned.

I'd agree with you if this was an actual effort to address my concerns. It was not.

How was it not an actual effort??

Your issue is that Purolator won't deliver to your door, and neither you nor your vendor knew that at the time.

Vince listened to your concerns, he apparently understood them, and he honestly informed you that they were not likely to add to-the-door delivery to your address. You seriously expect a company to change policy for ONE complaint? (Now if all of your neighbours used Purolator and they all complained... the company very well might give it more thought.)

Anyway, you know that they won't deliver to your door, and so you can specify a different carrier for future orders.